The Importance of Walking

Michael Jen

(Michael Jen is one of our NACD dads. He is a martial arts instructor, as well as a muscle balance and function facilitator. Not only does he teach others about fitness, but he “walks the walk” as well---he and his family walk 2-4 miles each day!)

Both serious athletes and fitness enthusiasts seem always to be on the
lookout for the newest and most “advanced” forms of exercise or piece of
equipment to enhance performance, rehabilitation, or general health.
However most people tend to have forgotten the extreme importance of
the simplest form of exercise- walking.

Our bodies were designed by nature to stand upright and walk on two legs.
With the advancement of technology, automobiles have replaced walking.
Most people would rather drive 2 minutes to get to a destination than
walk. Physical labor is required by fewer occupations, especially with
advancement of computers. Machines are replacing more physical household
chores, and leisure-time activities that require no physical
exertion or movement are becoming more popular. Studies have shown that
the average American adult only walks between 3,000 – 5,000 steps a day.
A greater number of steps easily can be taken in a 30-minute walk, yet that
is as much as most people walk throughout an entire day.

Rather than moving throughout the day, the primary position that most
people are in is sitting. The human body’s design was not based on
spending over half the day sitting. The more our body does things it was
not designed to do, the more our original functional design becomes
altered. In fact, it can be said that your body shapes itself into the
activity or position that you engage in the most. This is important to
know because you must realize that is difficult for any 30-minute
exercise program to completely counteract the effects of an entire day
of inactivity.

Nature designed walking as the most basic and the main form of
locomotion and transportation for human beings. Therefore it is
essential for optimal health and function that this basic form of
movement is a regular part of our daily lives. It is very simple and
logical- the more we do things our bodies were naturally designed to do,
the more functional our bodies become. For a body that is dysfunctional,
walking can begin to guide that body back toward towards its original
functional design. Also, remember that acute injuries cause or increase
postural dysfunction. Therefore regardless of the type of injury or on
what part of the body, walking should be a part of a person’s
rehabilitation at some point. For a highly functional body, walking
helps maintain that state; and the more the body remains in a highly
functional state, the more difficult it becomes to be altered out of
that state.

It is also extremely important to know that walking on a treadmill or
elliptical machine is not the same as walking on the ground; and the use
of those machines is extremely detrimental to the body in the long run.
Why? Because according to the laws of physics, the treadmill or
elliptical machine does not mimic any sort of movement that exists in
reality. When we walk on the ground, we are pushing ourselves away from
the ground. Walking on the ground works very specific muscles in a very
specific way. With the treadmill, you are not pushing yourself away from
the ground; you are just lifting your legs. The ground is moving away
from you, which does not happen in reality. With the elliptical machine,
that unnatural movement is even worse. Therefore those machines work
your body and muscle groups in a way that is completely different from
running or walking on the ground. As mentioned before, the more the body
engages in movements it was not designed to do, the more it begins to
shift away from its original functional design.

Many people tend to find every excuse not to walk. Many say they would rather
run due to the fact that they tend to think they need a “workout” in
order to improve their bodies. It is important to keep in mind that
making your body more functional and feeling tired from a workout are
two completely different things. In addition, the movement of walking is
different from the movement of running. Many athletes can run for
several miles, train for several hours in their particular sport, or
deadlift and squat hundreds of pounds. However it is so common to see
these athletes, who appear to be strong, complain about their backs or
some other part of their body aching when they need to stand and walk
non-stop for numerous hours.

The reason this happens is because many athletes have done those
activities for so long with their dysfunctions, it has become a “normal”
ingrained part of the movement in that activity. When their bodies are
placed in a situation as simple as standing and walking, their
dysfunctions are not accustomed to it; therefore their bodies can’t
handle it, and the extent of their dysfunctions becomes glaringly obvious.

When walking, time is more important than the number of steps or
distance. As mentioned earlier, sitting is the primary position most
people are in today, and a person should look at how much time they spend
in that position. Therefore in order to counteract the effects of the
amount of time spent sitting, you must have a significant amount of time
not in the sitting position. Let's say a person can walk 1
mile in 30 minutes. However as his/her body improves, 1 mile eventually
only takes that person 20 minutes. Though the distance is the same, the
person is now spending less time moving and out of the sitting position.
So rather than setting or increasing goals by distance, it is best to
calculate it by time.

Walking is the most basic form of movement, and it important never to
ignore the basics. This is essential for everyone from young children,
to athletes, to senior citizens. A functional body should be able to
stand and walk for hours and not feel a single bit of discomfort or
pain. So if a body is incapable of doing this, attempting to skip ahead
to running or any other more advanced form of body movement will only
increase dysfunctions and make that body worse.